This invention relates to electronic music producing systems having a voltage controlled tone generator or synthesizer, for sequentially producing electrical audio frequency signals, for driving a loud speaker or other electro-acoustical transducer, having fundamental frequencies controlled in accordance with the values of input voltage signals, and deals more particularly with a device for producing such input voltage signals which device is generally in the form of a guitar or other fretted stringed instrument.
Electronic music systems having voltage controlled tone generators or synthesizers are well known in the art. The tone generator of such a system usually includes a large number of manually adjustable controls for varying various tone characteristics, such as timbre, attack, decay, vibrato, tremolo, etc. to obtain different sounds or effects. However, the basic sequence of the tones and their timing is usually controlled manually through a generally conventional keyboard played in a generally conventional manner. Thus, persons performing on presently known synthesizer systems should be relatively skilled keyboard instrument players, and such systems are of limited usefulness to musicians skilled primarily in the playing of non-keyboard instruments.
The general object of this invention is, therefore, to provide a music system of the type having a voltage controlled tone generator, or synthesizer, but wherein the input signals to the tone generator are produced by a guitar or other fretted stringed instrument thereby allowing the system to be played by guitarists or others more skilled in or preferring to use a guitar or similar stringed instrument as the input device rather than a keyboard.
Synthesizers are also now often used as instruments played by performing groups of artists. In a performance it is often desirable for a performer to switch from one instrument to another, and in keeping with this another advantage of the present invention is that the guitar or the like used to provide the voltage input signals for the synthesizer may also be played in its conventional fashion, thereby allowing the performer to switch back and forth between a synthesizer effect and a guitar effect without physically changing instruments.
Other objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the drawings and from the description forming a part hereof.